4.49 or 4.50 - what should I use and why?

[zooma]

I think the more recent comments about the cheaper RWS Basic, GECO and RWS CO2 pellets - all available in 4.50 only - more or less prove that as far as target shooting goes at 6 yards or 10 metres there is really no gain in worrying too much about whether or not a pellet is 4.49 or 4.50 - they both shoot the same.

I will be shooting 4.50 from now onwards ( as my supplies of any other types slowly expire) as I see no reason or proof that any other size is worth worrying about.

4.50 also gives more choice as every ".177" flat headed pellet is made in this size in all prices and types.

That is not to say that some pellet types do not work better in some barrels than others - because sometimes certain pellets do work better in barrels that can be "pellet fussy" - but even then the difference between 4.49 and 4.50 is not a factor to worry about - just the type!

Personally I find the RWS Meisterkugeln in 4.50 works well in most air pistols that I shoot, and for those that want a heavier pellet then the rifle version of the Meisterkugeln work well too !

These are not the cheapest pellet but they are significantly less expensive than RWS R10 pellets and offer a similar high quality with a proven world record winning performance and nicely bridge the gap between budget and premium priced pellets.

[RobinC]

My philosophy has always been to buy the best and to use the size as tested in the gun recorded on the test card by the factory, and keeping to that philosophy my wife has always shot RWS R10 in 8.3gn, 4.49 in her Walther LG400 rifle. It was tested last year at MEC in Dortmund using those and shot a perfect 10 shot group on their test rig of 4.50 mm electronically measured, a rare event, so the rifle and pellet combination works.

BUT, she recently ran out of pellets, but had in her bag the tin of RWS Meisterklugen (yellow tin) in 4.50, 8.3gn, that were given out at the British Championships, so she shot those, result, very good. She has continued to use that tin and has shot very well ever since, the most recent being a 381 ex 400 at 10mts with one string of 12 consecutive ten's, not a lot wrong with those pelllets! I think if the gun shoots well it will shoot any good quality pellet, and the argument of size is simple, does it make a difference? In some guns yes, others no! When she gets the next lot of pellets what will they be? I can guarantee they will be RWS R10 4.49, 8.3 gn!

With air pistol the accuracy is similar to a rifle, (test groups are very similar) but the argument often used is the target is massive, ten is 12mm against 0.5 mm of the rifle ten, BUT even that is irrelavent. Shots dead middle OK but If you put a shot that is genuinely 0.1 inside the ten line and the pellet consistency takes it 0.1 out side then the pellet has lost you a point, soon adds up.

Perhaps its because we also shoot 50 metre .22RF where the target is now tighter than even the good ammo, but the ammo is £18 for 100 , and also 300 metre with 6mmBR handloads that are superb but cost the same for 5 shots as a tin of 500 pellets, that my philosophy will remain, buy the best pellet that is matched to the gun, the cost difference from R10 to Geco for shooting air is peanuts, but the results can be varied, but not always!
Have fun and good shooting.
Robin

[Stuart_B]

Still have some serious doubts that manufacturers can make lead pellets down to .1mm. Always thought that was the idea behind many matching the batch number as the differences between one batch to the next of the same pellet run differently through the same gun.

[RobinC]

Still have some serious doubts that manufacturers can make lead pellets down to .1mm. Always thought that was the idea behind many matching the batch number as the differences between one batch to the next of the same pellet run differently through the same gun.

Stuart
O.1mm is only 4 thou (0.004 ins) in old money, the difference in the pellets 4.50 to 4.49 is 0.01 mm which is half a thou-ish (0.0005 ins). When I did my apprenticeship I was told that a good engineer can file to a thou, half a thou is not a difficult tolerance for a good machine. The difference of batches is only apparant when the dies have worn, dies are expensive, so they are then downgraded to a different grade, so a Geco die may have started life as an R10 die.

Batch testing is a waste of time with air pellets, top shooters will test the different makes, RWS and the Chinese ones Qiang Yuan and different sizes if available, but the different batches of each same make and size are so close as not to be worth the time testing.
Match air pellets are exceptionaly good quality, they far exceed .22rf ammo in quality and consitancy, to get close to match air pellets in accuracy you have to go to top level centre fire ammo, and I can assure you the degree of precision gone to, to get that accurate is massive, (I load match 6mmBR so I know) but its easier to work with as its bigger but it does require some very trick kit and a great degree of care to get it so.

With air the gun is the big factor, the consistancy of air charge via the valve, the quality and precision of the regulator, the barrel quality, is much bigger tolerances than the pellets. Any diferences in velocity are generaly pressure or mechanical variances, even from one identical gun to the next there can be diferences, its one reason why you will often see a world calss shooter with a model of rifle that has been superceded, its a good one and they have confidence in what they have. Nothing any one could make could be better than my wifes LG400 so to replace it accuracy would not be the factor. You will never tell the true quality of a pellet unless it is shot in a modern top quality match air gun, with expert resting systems, by an expert shooter or operator, with all else the group size is more luck.

Will the different sizes make a difference, can you tell? Well, when I shot 5 shot matches with My Steyr LP50e I initualy used JSB match pellets in 4.50 and had a bad batch with 4.50 and 4.49 mixed, you could clearly tell by the 4.49's being loose in the magazine. When I got suspicious I spent an intersting morning (NOT!!) micing up all the pellets in the tin, and yes you could see the diference. I benched groups from both and the group size was the same but the placement was different so I reverted to RWS R10's. Incidentaly on a visit to the Steyr factory (small village factory unit) I saw they had various makes and various sizes of pellets on the shelf, I was told they buy what ever the local shop has in stock!!

Walther only use RWS R10 and test all match guns with both sizes and the test sheet used is the tightest as long as both pass.

Have fun, and good shooting.
Robin

[Stuart_B]

Stuart
O.1mm is only 4 thou (0.004 ins) in old money, the difference in the pellets 4.50 to 4.49 is 0.01 mm which is half a thou-ish (0.0005 ins). When I did my apprenticeship I was told that a good engineer can file to a thou, half a thou is not a difficult tolerance for a good machine. The difference of batches is only apparant when the dies have worn, dies are expensive, so they are then downgraded to a different grade, so a Geco die may have started life as an R10 die.

Oops, decimal point fail

[zooma]

Oops, decimal point fail

Yup - ten times bigger than the difference between 4.49 and 4.50 pellets

..and maybe that is the 0.01 decimal point that makes no difference at all